[Photographer Profile] #7 Mjollnir

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Hello, Forum. I'm Mjollnir.

Born in San Francisco, raised in the Big Sur/Carmel, CA, lived and worked all over the world in trade finance many years ago. 46 years old now.

Two careers and one marriage later, I now live in Hollywood (yes, that Hollywood).

I come from a family of musicians, and was myself a musician and composer for most of my adult life until my first marriage broke up, I was diagnosed with severe depression. I lost my muse and haven't picked up an instrument or written a score in roughly 11 years.

However, in that time, I met the woman was was to become my 2nd wife (we married this last September) who herself was already an avid and accomplished landscape photographer. After one too many trips where she shot and I impatiently sat/stood around waiting for her to finish, she got me a tiny Panasonic FS7, and I started to shoot along with her. That was two cameras and three years ago. She shoots Canon full frame, but I, having started off with such a small (but optically quite good) camera, liked the small form factor and stayed with Panasonic, first going to an LX5 and then to a GH2 last year. Hopefully I'll be upgrading to a GH3 this January as soon as they start shipping reliably. I really like the mix of quality and size in Micro Four Thirds, and likely will not be changing to Full Frame.

I shoot almost exclusively landscape, w/smatterings of architecture. Living where we do, we are extremely close to a large number of places that other people come to visit from all over the word: Yosemite National Park, Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park, Death Valley National Park, The Mojave National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, Big Sur, The Salton Sea, Anza Borrego, and especially the eastern escarpment of the Sierra on the 395: the Owens Valley. Suffice it to say, we're on the road a LOT.

Many of these shots are from hiking around, but several as well are from very close to where my Jeep is parked. We've made a resolution this year to get MUCH farther out and away from the roads, and I expect that 2013 will be a much more backpacky/high country year.


Bridalveil & Cathedral Rocks, B&W by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr

I don't really think a personal style applies to landscape photography in the same manner it does in music, especially landscape is dependent on certain atmospheric conditions, but shooting in RAW and using Lightroom and various NIK plug ins, it's certainly possible to highlight what one 'sees' for the picture more easily.


Hornitos Road, Morning in the Forest by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr

There are particular things I gravitate towards, and they have changed over time. Once it was grand, sweeping vistas, but they get old and rarely have the light I like. Now it's more to do with crepuscular rays and light variation w/in the frame of a subject.


Hornitos Road Oak, Fog #3 by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr

Looking at what I've shot since I've been doing so, I have a tendency to try and create 'dreamscapes', for lack of a better word, or to convey an otherworldly aspect of what is otherwise just the natural world. It's lucky for me, then, that we live so close to the 'range of light' and the deserts of California. Conditions are almost always there if one is patient enough.


Hornitos Road Oak, Fog #2 by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr


Road Into Morning, Merced County by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr


Sunspots, Tejon Ranch, NIK by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr

One thing that has held over into photography for me from music is my firm belief in knowing your equipment. Know what it can and, more importantly, CAN'T do, know what the functions are, where they are and if you're ultimately serious about getting the best results: know your software.


First Direct Sunlight, Sentinel Meadow #5 by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr


Road 208 (Bellview Road) #4 by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr


Stoneman Bridge, looking west, Merced River by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr

I process pretty much exclusively through LightRoom and use the full suite of NIK plugins. They get my highest recommendation with no reservations. They add something to the Adobe products that I think actually should have been there from the get go. I find that I can get what I want from a particular shot (and often more than I thought was there) without going over the top. I also shoot 99% of my shots on a tripod with a remote shutter release.

I only started selling photographs since last December, when I was contacted by a band who wanted one of my shots for the cover of one of their singles, and I haven't really pursued it much this year, but it was great getting paid for something I like doing in any case.


Owens Valley Sunrise, Bishop, CA by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr


The End of Fall, El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite by tanngrisnir3, on Flickr

Remember: since there's very little that one can change when shooting remote/high country/backwoods other than angle, it's all about the light.

Shoot because you love it, and shoot well.